murmurHanawa Bayashi Festival
Kazuno City · Central Hanawa, Kazuno (around Kazuno-Hanawa Station)
Dates and details can change. Always check the official website before you go.
Hanawa Bayashi Festival Committee · Last checked: Oct 10, 2026
Dates
Dates confirmed with official sources
- 2026
- Aug 19–20, 2026 （Ended）
- 2027
- Dates have not been announced yet. Please check the official website.
- Usual timing
- Usually mid August
- How the date is set
- Every year, August 19 – August 20
- Venue
- Central Hanawa, Kazuno (around Kazuno-Hanawa Station)
- City
- Kazuno City, Akita
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About
Every August 19 and 20, the town of Hanawa in Kazuno comes alive with what is often praised as one of Japan's finest festival music traditions. Performed as an offering to the local guardian shrine, Saiwai Inari Jinja, the festival sees ten lavish floats finished in real lacquer and gold dust paraded through the streets all night long, carried along by the energetic music of young local players. On the evening of the 19th, the neighborhoods set off for the shrine's temporary resting place at the signal of smoke flares, and from 0:00 on the 20th the pre-dawn "Asazume" procession begins. Each neighborhood built its own float, so they differ in age, size and design. The festival is a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property and part of the UNESCO-listed "Yama, Hoko, Yatai" float festivals. It takes place just a minute's walk from JR Kazuno-Hanawa Station.
Sources
- OfficialHanawa Bayashi Festival Committee www.hanawabayashi.jp
- OfficialKazuno City www.city.kazuno.lg.jp
- Reference花輪ばやし｜旅東北（東北観光推進機構） www.tohokukanko.jp
Last checked: Oct 10, 2026. Event information is based on official announcements, but changes may not always be reflected here. Please check each official website for accurate details.
Other events this month
On the day, see what locals are murmuring on the murmur map
murmur is an app that shows short, anonymous posts on a map, right where they were written. On festival day, open the map around the venue and see what people nearby are saying.